The invention concerns a cylinder mortar of the type in which a gun barrel is associated with an ammunition cylinder mounted to rotate about an axis parallel to the axis of the barrel. The mortar includes a plurality of cylindrical chambers for receiving rounds of ammunition, open at their front and rear ends and each movable by rotation of the cylinder to a firing position aligned with the barrel. The rear end of the mortar then being supported on a firing plate including means for firing the ammunition.
Mortars of this type are generally fitted to armored vehicles and allow a relatively high rate of fire, thanks to the cylinders whose chambers can easily be reloaded with ammunition during firing and which also enable rapid burst firing when all the chambers of a cylinder have been preloaded.
However, the rotation of the cylinder which enables the chambers to be brought into firing position in turn, i.e. into alignment with the barrel and supported on the firing plate with the means for firing the ammunition, requires high dimensional accuracy of the parts in question and use of more or less complex means to ensure gas tightness during firing, while allowing rapid rotation of the cylinder and loading the chambers through their front ends.